The Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences has welcomed the UAE government’s landmark decision to embrace a new work week cycle, announcing that it will begin operating on a Saturday-Sunday weekend mode from January 1.

The decision to adapt to the new schedule was taken after members of the MBRU family worked together to assess the impact of the new weekend shift and conducted a scenario planning exercise while considering the nature of the different programs and operations of all departments.

Based on the exercise, MBRU will operate on a four-and-a-half-day work week, Monday through Friday, with Friday being a half-day, operating remotely.

Professor Zaid Baqain, Provost, MBRU, commented: “In compliance with the UAE Government’s decision pertaining to the change in weekend, we adopted the four-and-a-half-day week for both our students and staff after conducting a scenario planning exercise to assess the impact of the new weekend shift taking into consideration matters such as the curriculum and course delivery, scheduling, clinical education, and the nature of the different programs and operations of all departments at large. We came up with three different scenarios and found that the four-and-a-half-day schedule works best for us, focusing particularly on ensuring that our students’ learning journey is continuously enhanced.”

He further commented: “We found that the weekend shift bears no implications as no change in the teaching and credit hours, in lab requirements, nor in class will occur. Our undergraduate students will continue to have classes on Monday through Thursday as a full-day and will move to online learning on Fridays, and students with clinical training will adhere to their program

schedule. Both our students and staff are very agile. During the COVID-19 lockdown when we had to move classes online, we were able to do so very seamlessly; our students adapted and reported zero interruptions in their schedules. We welcome the change and are very confident that our students, faculty and staff will continue working hand-in-hand to ensure that we transition to this new schedule smoothly.”

Rasha Abbas, Senior Director – Human Resources, MBRU said: “MBRU lauds the UAE government’s progressive efforts to restructure the weekend, and we have decided to follow suit beginning January 1. The new work schedule enables employees to maintain a good work life balance and helps us create a work environment in which everyone is committed to perform at their best while maintaining a healthy mind and body, allowing us to increase productivity.”